Father of boy killed in blast ‘like walking dead’

The father of an eight-year-old killed at the Boston Marathon was described by neighbours as looking like the “walking dead” after learning his son was killed, his wife had suffered horrific brain injuries, and his daughter had lost a leg in the blast.

Martin Richard was one of the three people killed in Monday’s explosions, according to Stephen Lynch, a friend of the family for 25 years. Neighbours recalled Martin as a vivacious boy who loved to run and climb.

Martin’s mother Denise is on the critical list and is awaiting surgery. His 7-year-old sister, Jane, who was an Irish dancer with the Clifden Irish Dance Academy, will now have to use a prosthesis.

His brother and father were also watching the race, but were not hurt. They had gone to get ice cream, then returned to the area near the finish line. Neighbour Jack Cunningham said Martin’s father was a runner but had been injured and didn’t compete in the marathon.

“They were looking in the crowd as the runners were coming to see if they could identify some of their friends when the bomb hit,” said Mr Lynch.

Candles burned at the family’s home in the city’s Dorchester section. “Peace” was written in chalk on the front walkway.

“What a gift. To know him was to love him,” said family friend Judy Tuttle, who remembered sitting at the dining room table having tea with Ms Richard while Martin did his homework.

“He had that million-dollar smile and you never knew what was going to come out of him. Denise is the most spectacular mother that you’ve ever met and Bill is a pillar of the community. It doesn’t get any better than these people.”

Neighbour Betty Delorey, 80, said Martin loved to climb the neighbourhood trees and hop the fence outside his home.

“I can just remember his mother calling him, ‘Martin!’ if he was doing something wrong,” she said. “Just a vivacious little kid.”

Ms Delorey had a photo showing Martin dressed as the character Woody from the Toy Story films, wearing a cowboy hat, a sheriff’s badge, jeans and a big smile. His sister, Jane, was at his right dressed as Woody’s friend, Jesse.

“I’m sick to my stomach,” said Ms Delorey. “It’s hard to say anything really.”

Mr Richard is director of a local community group, and an avid runner and cyclist. Ms Richard works as a librarian at the Neighbor-hood House Charter School, where Martin was in a third-grader and Jane attends first grade.

Neighbour Jane Sherman, 64, said Mr Richard came home for around 10 minutes at 10.30pm local time to get some clothes.

“He looked like the walking dead,” she said. “If you just lost a child and your other daughter was in the hospital I don’t think you would feel any differently.”

Harrowing stories have emerged after doctors confirmed “several amputations” were performed on survivors. Others had limbs torn of by the force of the blasts.

Liz Norden, a mother of five, told the Boston Globe how two of her sons had each lost a leg in the blast.

Both had gone to the finish line at Boylston St to see a friend complete the race.

“Ma, I’m hurt real bad,” Ms Norden quoted one of her sons as telling her in a phone call from the ambulance.